Standing on the waters casting your bread
While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing
Distant ships sailing into the mist
You were born with a snake in both of your fists while a hurricane was blowing
Freedom just around the corner for you
But with the truth so far off, what good will it do?
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune
Bird fly high by the light of the moon
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
..or down in the Caribbean. Me and another guy have a boat down there. Jokerman kinda came to me in the islands. It’s very mystical. The shapes there, and shadows, seem to be so ancient. The song was sorta inspired by these spirits they call jumbis.–Bob Dylan (Kurt Loder Interview, New York City – March 1984
Well, it’s always been my nature to take chances
My right hand drawing back while my left hand advances
Where the current is strong and the monkey dances
To the tune of a concertina
…. there were some real songs on this album that we recorded, a couple of really long songs, like there was one I did – do you remember Visions Of Johanna?…. Well, there was one like that. I’d never done anything like it before. It’s got that same kind of thing to it. It seems to be very sensitive and gentle on one level, then on another level the lyrics aren’t sensitive and gentle at all. We left that off the album.
~Bob Dylan (to Neil Spencer – July 1981)
Shadows are falling and I’ve been here all day
It’s too hot to sleep, time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I’ve still got the scars that the sun didn’t heal
There’s not even room enough to be anywhere
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
Environment affects me a great deal, a lot of the songs were written after the sun went down. And I like storms, I like to stay up during a storm. I get very meditative sometimes, and this one phrase was going through my head: ‘Work while the day lasts, because the night of death cometh when no man can work. ‘ I don’t recall where I heard it. I like preaching, I hear a lot of preaching, and I probably just heard it somewhere. Maybe it’s in Psalms, it beats me. But it wouldn’t let me go. I was, like, what does that phrase mean? But it was at the forefront of my mind, for a long period of time, and I think a lot of that is instilled into this record.
-Bob Dylan (John Pareles Interview, Santa Monica, California – September 1997)
When your mother sends back all your invitations
And your father to your sister he explains
That you’re tired of yourself and all of your creations
Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane?
Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane?
–
E/E: Who is Queen Jane?
Bob Dylan: Queen Jane is a man.
-Nora Ephron & Susan Edmiston Interview (late summer 1965)
“Queen jane Approximately” is an underrated song, modest in what it tries to do lyrically and musically, brilliant in what it achieves. .. The musical achievement of “Queen Jane Approximately” is harder for me to point to – it has to do with the deceptive simplicity of its sound. The melody is sweet and appealing, with an insistent build-up and release of rhythmic tension underlying it that is striking, surprising, full of vengeance, violence, suppressed power.
– Paul Williams (Bob Dylan Performing Artist I: The Early Years 1960-1973)
Covenant woman got a contract with the Lord
Way up yonder, great will be her reward
Covenant woman, shining like a morning star
I know I can trust you to stay where you are
Bob Dylan recorded the album version of “Covenant Woman” on February 15 in 1980.
Very good song from the album “Saved” (1980). The live versions from November 1979 & 1980 are GREAT.
Album version:
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio Sheffield, Alabama 15 February 1980
5th and last Saved recording session produced by Jerry Wexler & Barry Beckett.
Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
Fred Tackett (guitar)
Spooner Oldham (keyboards)
Tim Drummond (bass)
Jim Keltner (drums)
Alt version – Take 3 – February 11, 1980 (released on “Trouble No More” (2017))
Live versions
‘Covenant Woman’ proved to be a rather delicate flower. Once plucked as a performance piece, its fragile hue began to fade real quick. It was the highlight of the November 1979 shows, but rapidly wilted upon its removal from its homegrown vineyard. By the time Dylan came to the Saved sessions, in mid-February 1980, any sense of intimacy had all but gone.
-Clinton Heylin (Still on the Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan Vol. 2, . 1974-2008)
Despite being one of the duller performances on the Saved album, ‘Covenant Woman’ was a significant song for Dylan himself. He put it on a single, and on the first gospel tour, months before Saved had even been recorded, he performed it live at all 26 concerts: and he always placed it first among those featured songs that were not drawn from Slow Train Coming. On the second gospel tour, in early 1980, he gave it the same prominence at all 24 concerts. Then he dropped it altogether for the April–May dates but brought it back in for that year’s fall tour.
-Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)
Fox Warfield Theatre
San Francisco, California
4 November 1979
–
Fox Warfield Theatre
San Francisco, California
16 November 1979
–
Civic Auditorium
Santa Monica, California
19 November 1979
Gammage Center
Tempe, Arizona
26 November 1979
–
Civic Auditorium
Knoxville, Tennessee
6 February 1980
–
Massey Hall
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
19 April 1980
Lyrics
Covenant woman got a contract with the Lord
Way up yonder, great will be her reward
Covenant woman, shining like a morning star
I know I can trust you to stay where you are
And I just got to tell you
I do intend
To stay closer than any friend
I just got to thank you
Once again
For making your prayers known
Unto heaven for me
And to you, always, so grateful
I will forever be
I’ve been broken, shattered like an empty cup
I’m just waiting on the Lord to rebuild and fill me up
And I know He will do it ’cause He’s faithful and He’s true
He must have loved me so much to send me someone as fine as you
And I just got to tell you
I do intend
To stay closer than any friend
I just got to thank you
Once again
For making your prayers known
Unto heaven for me
And to you, always, so grateful
I will forever be
Covenant woman, intimate little girl
Who knows those most secret things of me that are hidden from the world
You know we are strangers in a land we’re passing through
I’ll always be right by your side, I’ve got a covenant too
And I just got to tell you
I do intend
To stay closer than any friend
I just got to thank you
Once again
For making your prayers known
Unto heaven for me
And to you, always, so grateful
I will forever be
